A presentation that explores how modern media affects how we feel about our bodies.

1. GLAMOROUS
STYLE TIPS
SEXY BIKINI
BODIES!
July 11 Issue No. 99
READER STORY:
HOW I LOST
A DRESS SIZE
IN A WEEK!
MEDIA
MAKE HIM SAY
WOW
BODY IMAGE
and the
50
Women who are thinner than you

2. “Mimicry is the goal of the beauty
industry.”- Dr. Nancy Etcoff
• Women spend $426 billion a year on beauty products
• Girls aged 8-12 spend $40 million a month on cosmetics
• Americans spend more each year on beauty than they do on
education
• Beauty firms spend just 2-3% of their sales on research &
development
• They spend 20-25% on advertising and promotion

3. Media and Ads
• Media- the main means of
mass communication
• Books, magazines, television,
advertising, newspapers,
movies, the internet
(including social media)
• By 2015, it is estimated that
each person will consume
15 hours of media per day
• Possible to consume more
than 24 hours of media a day
• Advertising- The act or
practice of calling public
attention to one’s product
by paid announcement to
get more customers
• We’re exposed to 250-3000
advertising messages per
day

4. Media and Body Image
• 60% of Caucasian middle
school girls read fashion
magazines regularly
• Women's magazines had 10.5
times more advertisements and
articles promoting weight loss
than men's magazines
• Of articles about fitness or
exercise plans, 74% cited "to
become more attractive" as a
reason to start exercising
and 51% noted the need to
lose weight or burn calories

5. What’s the Real Message

6. The “Perfect Woman”
• Broad shoulders
• Small waist
• Large breasts
• Small hips
• Small thighs
• Tan, clear skin
• Long hair
• http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=YxRamLlTh1Q
• Only 5% of women on
TV are overweight
• When women are
overweight, they act as
the butt of jokes

7. Double Standards
What’s your first reaction to
this picture?
Why do we find this
acceptable?

8. Boys, Bodies, and the Media
• Body dissatisfaction amongst
males
• Idealized male bodies
• Idealized images of women
• Study: Men were more self-conscious
about their bodies after reading
magazines featuring suggestive photos
of women, based on the belief that
girls would expect similar idealized
physiques from men as well.
• Relationship between increase in
idealized male bodies in media and the
rise in body dissatisfaction and weight
disorders in boys and young men:
• 2005 studyfound that media influence
had the largest effect on whether
middle-school boys were dissatisfied
with their bodies.

9. Cultural Impact
• Beauty standards are
NOT universal-
arbitrarily created by a
culture’s values
• Places where bigger is
beautiful
• Tonga Islands, Kuwait, Fiji,
Jamaica, Samoa, S. Africa,
Tahiti, Afghanistan, Nauru,
Mauritania

10. Another Way
• http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=2BnqX
K0QzK0

11. Sources
• https://www.scu.edu/wellness/topics/bodyimage/bodyima
gemedia.cfm
• http://www.economist.com/node/1795852
• http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-countries-celebrating-
female-obesity.php

12. Resources
• http://www.abeautifulbodyp
roject.com/
• http://thebodypositive.org/tb
p/about-us/
• http://www.ourbodiesoursel
ves.org/book/companion.as
p?id=1&compID=7
• http://www.newmoon.com/
• http://www.alreadypretty.co
m/2011/04/body-positive-
resources-for-girls-and-
young-women.html
• https://www.ted.com/talks